Three Quick Thoughts on the Philippines
1.
One simple thing that local cellular phone providers could do that would benefit the whole country a great deal would be to standardize time between themselves and transfer that data to their subscribers phones. I'm sure that Nokia phones support it and the cost is the same as a text message - next to nothing, and it's not like we have multiple timezones to deal with. With a single standard time that is easy to check, maybe our country will run a little smoother for it.
2.
The roads in the city suck and the sidewalks are practically non-existent sacrificed to real estate and parking. Most of the side streets are too small anyway and its width is further reduced by people parking on the side of the road. For a good idea of the mess this makes try wrapping your head around Makati's weekday traffic/(no)parking/oneway scheme without training in discrete mathematics.
If this country banned cars in the smaller side streets I think it'd be healthy for people involved. People would be free to use the street for kids to play, for parties and drinking and whatnot - and this is what people use their streetfronts for anyway but it'd also be much safer.
On a personal note I'd be a much happier, healthier, and probably richer person if I could bike to my day-to-day destinations and only have to drive occasionally.
3.
People Power is a funny phrase when you remove it from the political struggle that happened over two decades ago and recontextualize it with what Filipinos are famous for around the world - the service industry. Our major export is human labor - People Power.
One simple thing that local cellular phone providers could do that would benefit the whole country a great deal would be to standardize time between themselves and transfer that data to their subscribers phones. I'm sure that Nokia phones support it and the cost is the same as a text message - next to nothing, and it's not like we have multiple timezones to deal with. With a single standard time that is easy to check, maybe our country will run a little smoother for it.
2.
The roads in the city suck and the sidewalks are practically non-existent sacrificed to real estate and parking. Most of the side streets are too small anyway and its width is further reduced by people parking on the side of the road. For a good idea of the mess this makes try wrapping your head around Makati's weekday traffic/(no)parking/oneway scheme without training in discrete mathematics.
If this country banned cars in the smaller side streets I think it'd be healthy for people involved. People would be free to use the street for kids to play, for parties and drinking and whatnot - and this is what people use their streetfronts for anyway but it'd also be much safer.
On a personal note I'd be a much happier, healthier, and probably richer person if I could bike to my day-to-day destinations and only have to drive occasionally.
3.
People Power is a funny phrase when you remove it from the political struggle that happened over two decades ago and recontextualize it with what Filipinos are famous for around the world - the service industry. Our major export is human labor - People Power.